The sky was darkening as I finally left the office, my mind still buzzing from the day's work. The tension from the cases lingered, a constant hum in the back of my head, but I pushed it aside as I drove to the hospital. Leah was all I could think about. I hadn’t been able to shake the image of her lying in that hospital bed, so still, so fragile. She’d been through so much, and all I could do was wait—wait and hope.
The hospital loomed in front of me as I pulled into the parking lot, the fluorescent lights casting an eerie glow over the pavement. I turned off the engine and sat there for a moment, the silence pressing down on me. Just as I was about to step out of the car, my phone buzzed in my pocket, and I felt a sudden jolt of anxiety.
I pulled it out quickly, glancing at the screen.
